Thursday, November 29, 2012

First, the positives. This product was fairly easy to assemble, and I really like that the shelf that the can sits on is slanted forward so each can in the front slides to the very front of the rack. I also like that it came with dividers to put in between cans so you can store cans of the same size together.

Now the not-so-good. This product would be much better if there was more room between the shelves. Even the average sized cans that my mom had were too big to fit in the rack without disassembling and lifting up the rack above it. This product is really made for very small cans.

Luckily my mom doesn't keep too many canned goods in stock, so I was able to come up with a quick fix.

After removing the middle shelf, we were pleased to see that all the cans still fit on the rack and there was room to remove the cans.

Overall, I would recommend this item if you have many cans that are small in size. If your canned items are medium or large, you can always modify this item!

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are all having a relaxing day with your families and taking time to count your blessings! We all know this time of year can get a little hectic with shopping, parties, decorating and hosting house guests. Keeping track of everything can be a real chore!

That's when a good calendar comes in handy. While I am a total technology junkie, there are a few things I prefer to have in hard copy form. My calendar is one of them. I need to see my schedule physically sprawled out on a wall rather than hidden in an app on my phone.

I love that it is a dry erase board, so I can change the calendar each month. Plus this calendar is peel & stick, so I can move it from wall to wall without leaving a sticky residue or losing the ability to stick to the wall. I've already moved it from one wall to another with absolutely no problem. At 24" by 36", I'm able to write in several appointments each day.

I just love being able to clearly see my entire month laid out so I always know where I need to be and what I need to get done!

Be sure to check out other Wall Pops Products to see different wall decor, white boards, and decorative calendars!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Last week I spent a day in my mom's kitchen taking baby steps to get her space ready for the holidays. She always does a ton of delicious baking, and having an organized kitchen can make a big difference!

With just one day in town to work, we decided to not bite off more than we could chew and begin with a few cabinets that my mom identified as the areas that, if organized, would improve her peace in the kitchen greatly.

First, we began with the spice cabinet.

As you can can't see, there are spices and cans that are hidden by the front row of items. This makes it difficult to keep an inventory of exactly what is in your kitchen, and duplicates ensue.

I laid out the spices in alphabetical order and placed multiples of each spice behind each other. Then we were able to combine multiples into one jar and reduce wasted space.

Then we sorted like items with like items and created the following categories: Spices, Dessert Decorating, and Canned Goods.

We brainstormed about what would function best for her lifestyle and then....we hit The Container Store!

It was my mother's very first trip to The Container Store, and she handled it beautifully. It can be a really overwhelming store, but we stayed focused and ended up with some great products. Here's what we bought for the spice cabinet:

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

One of the hardest things about organizing is throwing and giving away your belongings. We form emotional attachments to our things. This is why it is really beneficial to have an unattached third party who can help us sort through our emotions to decide what is essential to keep.

But until I come help you make decisions about your items, here's a trick that can show you what you need and what you don't.

First, turn all of your hangers "backwards" like this:

Then, as you use an item, put it back in your closet the "normal" way you usually hang your clothes.

After 6 months to 1 year, donate or discard the clothes that are still on "backward" hangers. You can exclude seasonal and special event items from this rule, however. This is a clear cut way to see visually what clothes you have stopped wearing so you can create more space in your closet!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

This is the week for starting a new series! I am really excited to start "Things on Thursday" and share with you new and old organizing items that I love!

This week I'm reviewing the Dial Diamond Drawer Organizer.

While you can find this product here on Amazon for $14.99, I lucked out and found this item at Ross for $4.99 and was so excited to take it home to use it.

This product is made up of plastic zig-zag pieces that snap together to create 32 compartments that are 4 1/4" x 4 1'2. I was really happy that each piece was separate because I was able to customize the shape of the organizer.For example, in the picture above, I saved two of the "zig-zags" for Kevin's drawer and only used four in my own. Assembly was very easy- no tools required. (That's almost a negative for me...I really enjoy power tools).This product has been working out really well. The pieces are sturdy and each compartment can fit one pair of socks and about 4 pairs of (ladies) underwear. The diamond shapes make the drawer look really clean and tidy, and my small items are separated nicely instead of all jumbled up in a drawer.The only thing I would do to improve this item would be to make it a little deeper. You can see along the side of the drawer in the picture above that there is unused vertical space (my BIGGEST organizing pet peeve). If the compartments were deeper, I could store more in each one and have extra space. Overall, I am very happy with this item. It has hugely improved the look and function of my drawers. I would definitely recommend this item!